Screw-driving machine



July 1 1924. Y 1;,49987 A A Y v F., c. SNYDER ET Al. v

scaaw DRIVING MACHINE Filed Augfzs, 1919v svheetst 1 i July 1 1924.

. A 1,499,887 F. c. SNVDER ET Al.

scREw DRVING MACHINE iled Aug 25. 1919 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 1 1924. 1,49"9;'88f",7'4

F. C. SNYDER ET AL I song-w DRIVING MACHXNE Filed Aug. 25, 1919 7 sheets-sheet 3' July 1 1924. y 1,499,887

` F. C. SNYDER ET AL SCREW DRIVI NG MACHINE Filed Aug.- 25 1919V 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 F. C. SNYDER ET AL 'SCREW DRIVING MACHINE July 1 1924 1,499,887

Filed Aug..25 wie' 7 sheets-sheet 5 July 1 1924.

7 Sheets-Sheet 6 F. c. SNYDER ET Al. snnsw DRIVING MAHIN;

July-1 1924. 1,499,887

A F. C. SNYDER ET AL SCREW DRIVING MACHINE enemies any i. ieee.

reageer FLOYD o. sumen, JAMES c. seems, am)

Assrenons morne REYNOLDS einem .rone'rioii or onio.

SCREW-DBIVHG- MACHINE.

' Appunti@ met august es, me. semi ne; eiefiee.

To all whom t mag/l concern:

Be it known that we, FLOYD C. SNYDER, JAMEsC. STEEN, and GREGORY F. MONULTY, citizens of the United States; all residing at Massillon, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Screw-Driving Machines,'of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a machine for driving screws inall positions and directions with greater speed and accurac than4 can be done by manual means, and t e object of the improvement is to provide a machine with a movable` driving head or chuck connected withl the operating mechanism and the screw feedingmagazine. by flexible tubes or thelike, the-'screws being fed to the head or chuck by air pressure through one of the tubes, iexible driving means being provided in another tube and flexible controlling means for the feeding mechanism bein contained in a third tube.

The em odiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings includes flexible driving means'between theV power mechanism and the screw drivin head. for permitting the head to be operate at any angle required by the-work upon which machine is being used; means for feeding the screws, one at a time, from a magazine to the screw driving head; means for conveying the screws, thus fed, through a flexible tube from the feeding mechanism to the head, for allowing free movement of the head i'nany direction; and a fiexible controlling wire between the feeding mechanis-m and the drivinghead for timely andv automatically feeding the screws from vthe magazine to the head by the operation of the head.

In the drawings-'- Figure l is a side elevation of the iinf proved screw driving machine;

Fig. 2. a front elevation of the same without the driving head, the flexible tubes leading thereto being broken o;

Fig. 3, a plan view. of the screw feeding magel zine; Y f

Fig. 4, aseo-tion on line 4-4, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5, a detail perspective view of the escapement mechanism, showing a fragmentary portion of the feed liagazine;`

"cam blade;

Fig. 6, a detail perspective view of the Fig. 7, a plan view of the escapeinent mechanism in the cutoff position;

Fig. 8, a similar view ,of the escapement mechanism in position, just before releasina screw;

ig. 9, a front elevation of the air valve casing;

Fig. 10, a sectional view of the air valve dit casing on line 10-10, Fig. 9;

F Fig. 11, a similar section on line 11-11, w ig. 9' Fig.12, a vertical longitudinal section of the screw driving head; p

Fig. 13, a horizontal longitudinal-section ofthe screw driving head;

i Fig. 14,- a rear end. view of, the screw driving head, the exible tubes being shown in section;

Fig. 15, a front driving head; 75

Fig. 16, a detail perspective view of one of the screw clamping jaws; and

Fig. 17, a 'section on line 17-17, Fig. 12;

Similar numerals` lof' reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several igureslef the drawings. f

Referring tothe drawings the machine 1s shown mounted upona stand orsupport 1, which forms no part ofthe machine proper, and may be dispensed withA when the vmae5 chine is mounted on a portable carria or upon any other suitable support, suc as a table or shelf.

The in'achine'proper is carried uponV a base plate 2 and is provided with a motor 90 3 which furnishes power for the driving head, the screw feeding mechanism and the air compressor. The pinion 4; is mounted upon the shaft 5 of the motor and meshes with the pinion 6 upon the compressor 7V 95 which may be of any usual and well known construction and is arranged to maintain a supply of compressed air in the tank 8, the pipe 9 connecting the compressor with said tank. Compressed air is discharged frein loo the tank through the pipe l0 which com-: municates with the air valve controlling the4 supply of air to the fiexible screwfeeding tube as will be later described.

A gear 11 on theshaft the pinion e. The shaft 12 is Journaled end viewof the screw.

12 meshes with x05 within a housing 13 carried by a lll-shaped bracket 14 mounted upon the bed plate 2 and is provided with a worm 15 located within the housing and meshing with a worm wheel 16 mounted upon the extremity of the flexible shaft 1.7, said shaft being contained within a flexible tube 18 and operatively connected with the screw driving head as will be described.

The shaft 12 extends to a point adjacent arch 24 which supports the bearing 25 for the spindle 19. The conical dial 26 is provided with a hub 2 7 by means of which it is mounted upon the spindle 19,-said dial being inclined downwardly towards its periphery which is located in the same horizontal plane with the beveled flange 23 and is spaced therefrom a distance corresponding to the diameter of the shank of the screws to be deposited therein, and the cirway. A guard ring cumferential edge of the dial is likewisey beveled upon its upper face corresponding with the bevel of the flange 23.

rlhe periphery of the dial 26 is spaced sufficiently from the edge of the flange 23 to form a circular space or run-way into which the stems of the screws supplied to the maga-` zine fall and are suspended by reason of the heads thereof resting-on the beveled edge of the dial and the flange 23. Attached to the rear portion of the annularwall ofl the magazine is a bearing 28 within which is mounted the horizontal shaft 29, a sleeve 30 being located upon said shaft and provided with a worm wheel 31 actuated by the Worm 21 which also drives the spindle 19. A circular brush 32 is also mounted upon the sleeve 30, the diameter of this brushl bej ing suchl that it will brush back any surplus screws which may be carried forward by the dial and allow only those topass which are suspended by their heads in the annular run- 33 is connected to the mner surfaceof the magazine and extends from a point beneath the center of the brush, where it is tapered as shown at 34,\to

. a point just beyond the -escapement meclbanism whichy will be later described.

The guard ring is spaced above the flange 23 and. the Perlphery of the rotatingkdial 26 la Sufficient distance to `allow the heads of screws to pass/freely beneath said ring when the screwsare hanging vertically in the 'annular run-way `but 1s s'uciently closeto the annular'run-way to prevent any screws assing beneath the ring, excepting those w ich are suspended therein in the proper position.

incase? Connected to the inner face of the magazine and extending from the escapement mechanism to 'a point adjacent the brush 32 is a ring 35 which extends over Vthe periphery of the dial 26 and is spaced from said dial and the flange 23, a suflicient distance to prevent screws from passing beneath said rmg.

rlFhe escapement mechanism which permits of the discharge of the pendent screws one at a time into the flexibletube leading to the 'driving head comprises the -escapement case 36 which is of'channel shape in cross section and is connected at its inner extremity to the bottom of the magazine 20. This escape-ment case is preferably located at an angle to a radius of the magazine as best illustrated in Fig. 3 and its inner end is angularly recessed at 37 to receive the screws from the annular run-way.

An escapement finger38 and a cut-off finger 39 are slidably mounted within the channel of the escapement case, the escapementfinger being provided with the curved recess 40 upon its outer extremity lto receive the screws one at a time as they enter the escapement case while the cut-oli' finger is provided with the beveled outer extremityv 41 for the purpose of cutting off the admission of screws to the escapement case after one screw has been released by the escapement linger. v

The ,escapement and cut-off lingers are re- .cessed upon their adjacent faces as indicated at 42 to permit of longitudinal movement of the fingers upon each side of the cam blade 43, and vertically disposed grooves 44 and`45 are provided in the escapement finger and cut-olf finger respectively to, receive the escapeme-nt cams 46 one of which is provided upon each side of the cam blade 43.

The ide rod' 47 is connected to the upper extremlty of the cam blade and is lvertically slidably mounted through a bearing 48 suported upon any suitable portion of the rame work such' as the U-shaped bracket 14.

The roller yoke -49 is provided with a horizontal slot 50 which receives'the outer end of the escapement case and is connected thereto by any suitable means. A recess 51 is rovided in the upper portion of the roller yo e within which recess is journaled the bearing roller 52, the outer edge of the cam blade 43 'bearing against said roller. To the lower endv of the cam blade is connected a flexiblev wire 53, which extends through the Hexible tube 54, the upper endof which tube is connected tothe bracket 55, which bracket may be supported upon any suitable portion of the frame, such as the base plate 2,f the other extremity thereof being connected to the driving head' as will be later described.

The air valve controlling bar 56 lll@ ESO

incase? nected at its upper extremity to the guide rod i7 and extends downwardly parallel with 20 the shoulder.

. The chute 61 extends downwardly from a point directly beneath the inner end of the escapement case in a position to receive the screws as Jthey are released by the escape- 1,5 ment mechanism. This chute communicates with a vertical bore 62 through the valve casing 58, a horizontally disposed passage 63, rectan lar in cross section, being provided in tie valve casing intermediate the 2e extremities of the bore 62. A piston-valve 64, rectangular in cross section and provided with'a beveled end 65, to which is connected a stem 66, slidably mountedin a horizontal bore 67 in the casing, being slidably mounted v"within said rectangular passage and having a vertical bore 68 arranged to normally communicate with the bore 64 to allow free passage of each screw from vthe ecsapement mechanism to the exible tube 69 which is 3c connected to the lower. extremity of the bore 62, the other end of 'said flexible tube being connected to the screw driving head as will be further described.

The pipe 10 from the air tank 8 communise cates with the horizontal passage 70 the inner extremity of the said passage terminating in the verticcally disposed po'rt 71 which communicates at its lower end with pprt 72 spaced y a second vertical exhaust from and parallel therewi said second vnamed passage communicating at its lower end with therectangular passage 63 while its upper end extends through the upper surface of the valve casing` 5 Spaced beneath and parallel with the horizontal passage is a guide bore73 which intersects the vertical passages 71 and 72 and extends through the forwardend of the' valve casing 58, the rear portion Vof said bore 50 being enlarged as at 74 and containingan expansion spring 75 which bears against the enlarged head'7 6 formed upon the valve-.rnd 77 which rod\is slidably mounted within the bore 7 3 and is provided with the ports 78 e5 and 79, the port 78 being normally located at the intersection ofthe passages 71 'and73 allowingthe air to enter the forward end of the rectangularpassage 63 holding the piston-valve 64 in the position shown in Fig. 11. A port 80 connects the horizontal passage 7 0 with the rear end of the rectangular passage 63 and intersects the enlar ed lportion 74 of the guide bore 73, the head 6 upon the valve rod normally closingthe passage 80 e5 as shown in Fig. v10. l

shown at 101 and theenlarged portion of kthe shaft'in rear-ofthe washer forthe pur- The outer extremity of the valve rod 77 extends through the forward end of the valve casing and engages the arm 81 of the pivoted dog 82, the lug 83 upon said dog being normally held in the path of the shoulder 59 upon ,the rod 56 by means of the expansion spring 75.

The screw Vdriving head comprises the rear casing 84, provi ed with the operating handle 85, the front casing 86 and the sliding chuck 87 which Jie slidably mounted within the forward end of the front casing. The rear casing 84 'is provided with the enlarged forward portion 88 which receives the rear end ofthe front casing 86, the for- $0 ward end of the rear casing abutting against the annular flange 89 upon the front casing, screws 90 or their eqivalents connectirig the two casings together.

A cylindrical cap 91 extends over the rear portion ofthe rear casing and is connected -thereto by means of screws 92 or the like, said cylindricalcap being provided with an end wall 93 having anloutwardly disposed threaded nip le 94 through which 'the flexible driving s aft 17 is located. The flexible tube 18 which encloses the flexible driving vshaft is provided with a fianged coupling `member 95, a flanged internally screw threaded collar 96 being placed. upon the 95 threaded nipple 94 for the purpose of attaching the flexible tube 18. `The screw drivingshaft 97l is journaled within the rear casing, a bushing 98 being provided around a portion of said shaft. we

`The rear end of the shaftis screw threaded at 99, jam nuts 100 being located thereon for adjusting the shaft within the casing. The

forward end of the shaft 97 is reduced as the shaft is provided upon diametric'ally opposite Sides with grooves 102 within which are slidably located bars 103, the forward ends of said bars engaging a collar 104 slidably mounted upon the -reduced end ofthe shaft while theA rear ends of the bars are engaged by the tangs 105 upon the washer 106, an adjusting n ut107 being threaded upon pose of longitudinally adjusting ther ars- 103. The epd of theflexible drivin shaft 17 is insertedrntoa bore 108 in the riving shaft 97 and is operatively'connected thereto by means of thekey 109.

A sleeve 110, is pinned Vat its rear end, to the rear portion of the screw driving shaft by means of a pin 111, the forward end of said sleeve being provided with yan outward-- ly disposed flange 112, a Afriction disk 118 being mounted uponthe rear face of said flange. Y An expansion spring 114 is located around .the reduced portion 101 ofthe' drive shaft 110 and between a similar collar 115, said ,last named collar 13e the'sliding collar 104 and. f

The screw driving spindle 121 extendsl into the tubular portion 117 and is connecti ed thereto by means of a pin 122 located through a suitable aperture in said spindle and through slots 123 in the tubular portion 117. The bit 124 has its rear portion -located within the tubular portion 125 of the spindle and is connected thereto bymeans of a set screw 126.

A buffer plate 127 is located around the tubular portion 117 in rear of the front casing and is provided with studs 128 which project through suitable apertures 129 in the rear wall of the front casing. One or more sockets 130 are provided in the rear wall of the front casing, each socket receiving one end of an expansion spring 131 the I 8@ other end being located in a similar socket 132 provided in the sliding lchuck 87.

The end of thescrew driver extends into a bore 133 in the sliding chuck, a bushing l134 being preferably provided in said bore.

Adjusting screws 135 are located through suitable threaded apertures in the sliding head, the rear vends thereof being arranged to contact with the studs 128 upon the bu tfer plate as will be hereinafter described.

An angularlv disposed tubular extension 136 is provided upon the sliding chuck and communicates with the bore 133, the bushing being cut out at 137 to allow screws to enter the bore from the tube 138 which is bent downwardly and extended into the tubular portion 136. The tube- 138 extends backwardly above the casinvs and is slidably mounted through a bearmg 139 formed in the rear casing, a coupling member 140 .connecting said tube with the .flexible -tubev A rWire carrier 141 is mounted yuponl the rear prtion ofthetube 138 and xedly connected thereto b means of a set screw 142,

the forward en of the flexible wire 53 being attached to said carrier. The forward end of the flexible tube 54 within which the flexible wire 53' is encased is provided with a coupling member 143 which is attached to 60 the boss 144 formed upon the rear casing 84.

The outer portion of the sliding chuck is grooved longitudinally upon diametrically opposite sides as shown at 145 to provide seats for the corresponding jaws 146. These jaws consist vof elongated strips of metal which 'are fulcrumed at about their centers as shown at 147, each being provided near itsrear extremity with 'sockets 148 which receive coil springs 149 keeping the lower ends of the jaws normally pressing in toward each other.

The outer ends of the jaws are turned inwardly toward each other as shown at 150 enters this funnel shaped opening between the vextremities of the jaws forcing the aws apart as the screw is forced vdown between them by the bit 124. The jaws will hold the screw. straight and steady while it is driven into .the work by the bit. s

The thrust piece 152, of angular form is connected to the under side of the forward end of the sliding chuck and provided with the -up-turned portion 153which is positioned in front of the extremities of the jaws and provided with a half roundy notch'- 154 through which the screw-passes as it is driven into the work. This thrust piece is placedy in ,contact with the work into which the screw is to be driven and. preventsfbinding of the jaws by preventing their contacting with the work and also prevents marring of the work by holding the jaws out of contact therewith. e

The operation of the device is as follows: Assuming that a screw has just been driven into the work and the sliding chuck is telescoped within the front casing of the screw driving head, the flexible wire 53 will hold the cam blade in the raised position, the escapeinent mechanism being nthus in the position illustrated in Fig. 8, a screw being held suspended over the tube 61 by means of the escapement finger. At the same time the air valve mechanism is in the position shown in Figs. l0 and 11, the rod 56 however being-in its raised position and out of sliding-chuck outwardly into the initial position shown in Figs. 12 and 13, drawing the flexible wire 53 forwardly through its flexible tube and pulling'the cam blade downward. As the escape'ment linger is thus moved outward, the screw suspended above the tube 61 will be released as the'inner end of the escapement lin er clears the inner edge of the escapemen case. 'At this instant the inner end of the cut-0E linger will not have moved in suciently to engage the screw and it will be dropped into the tube to pass through the port 78`into the for- 61 and through the bore 62 and the passage 68 in the piston 64, the screw passing down-` wardly into the flexible tube 69.

The bar 56 being carried downwardly by n the guide rod will at this instant engage the dog 82, a further downward movement of the rod rocking the dog downwardly, pushing the valve rod 7 7 inwardly closing the port 78 and opening the exhaust port 72 l and moving the head 7 6 out of the port 80 allowing the compressed air from the tube 10 to pass through the port 80 and into the inner end of the rectangular passage 63 forcing the piston-valve 64 outwardly into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. .11, the co ressed air passing down through the exible tube 69 and impelling the screw thro h said tube and through thetube 138 into t e bore of the sliding chuck as shown at A in Fig. 13. As the bar 56 reaches the-lower limit of its movement thev portion 83 of the dog will ride up into the notch 60 in the bar 56,- the spring 75 forcing the valve rod back into the position shown in Fig. 10 cutting oi the admission of airto the rear end of the rectangular passage 63 and allowing the air ward end of the passage 63 moving the pistonlvalve 64 back into the normal position shown b fulll lines in Fig. 11.

The exible shaft 17-1s continuously rdtated and through the friction disk 11 and flange 120 rotates the spindle 121 o the screw driving bit 124. As the cam blade` descends to the lowest limit of its movement the escapement mechanism is moved into the position shown in Fig. 7, the cut-oil tinger 39 being moved inwardly preventing the admission of screws to the escapement mechanism, immediately after a screw has been released as above described.

When the screw"has reached the position above mentioned in the sliding chuck thel screw driving head may be then put into operation to drive the screw into the work.l To accomplish this the thrustv piece 153 is placed against the work at the point where it is desred to drive the screw and by means of the handle 85 the casing of the screw driving head is moved forward telescoping upon the sliding chuck, the bit 124 en ag ingvthe slotted head of the screw and orc` ing the screw between the inturned ends of the jaws 146 into the work. L ,i

When the casing has reached the forward "limit ofv its movement with referenceto the sliding chuck, which should be adju/stedto occur at the instant the screw is driven entirely home into the work, the adjusting. screws 135will engage the studs 128; upon the buil'er plate,pushing said buffer plate rearwardly into engagement with the disk r116 sliding said disk rearwardly, against the pressure of the spring 114 suiliciently toy blade to the upper limit of its movement,

operating the escapement mechanism and moving the escapement and cut-ofil fingers into the position shown in Fig. 8, allowing a, new 'screw to be moved `into engagement with the curved inner extremity of the escapement finger as the cut-oli finger is moved rearwardly. This screw remainssuspended above the tube 69 until theI driving head is removed from engagement with the Work when the operation above described will be, repeated land the screw will beV fed into the sliding chuck. As the cam blade is moved into its upward position it will carry with it the rod 56 which controls the air valve mechanismthus leaving thenair valve mechanism in pro r position to refC ceive the next screw as t e driving head is removed from the work.

We cla1m:

taining screws, a' screw driving head comprising a casing and a screw' holding chuck reciprocally mounted ,within the casing, a iiexible shaft operatively connecting the yower mechanism andthe driving head, a

eXible tube connecting vthe magazine and the driving head, an escapement mechanism for feeding thescrews one at a time through the flexible tube to the driving head, and a flexible wire operatively connecting the driving head and the escapement mechanism for actuating the escapement mechanism by the telescoping of the casing over the chuck.

'2. A screw driving machine including a screw driving head comprising a casing, a revoluble bit located within the casing, and a screw holding chuck reciprocally mounted within the casing, the casing bein arranged to be telescoped over the chuck or extending the bit through the chuck when the head ,3. A screw ydriving machine including a screw driving head comprising a casing, a

1. A. screw driving machine including a .4 power mechanism and a magazine for con- 10 screws from t re-volubl@I bit located Within the casing and g a screw holding chuck reciprocally mounted Within the casing, the Casin being arranged to be telescoped over the cuck for extending theA bit through the chuck When the head is operated, means for rotating the revoluble bit, a magazine and flexible tube c0nnecting the magazine and the driving mechanism, an escaement mechanism for feeding e magazine one at a time, to

Memes? the flexible tube, a valve controlling the admission of fluid pressure to the flexible tube, a sliding rod, means upon the rod for operating the escapemcnt mechanism and the fluid valve, and a Wire connecting the sliding rod to the chuck for operatin the rod when the Casin is telescoped over t e chuck.

FEOYD C. SNYDER. JAMES C. STEEN. GREGORY E. MGNULTY. 

